A Board of Supervisors task force proposal that would decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco was roundly excoriated yesterday by neighborhood advocates, business groups and law enforcement agencies.

"If you ask most people, they'll probably say prostitutes shouldn't be prosecuted," said Dutto. "But when prostitutes actually come into neighborhoods, they bring used condoms, crack pipes and hypodermic needles -- then people want them out."

Dutto also dismissed the "Pretty Woman" notion of the sex trade.

"About 80 percent of prostitutes want to leave the life," said Dutto. "The great majority started out at 12 to 14 years old, running away from sexually or physically abusive homes. Then they fall prey to pimps and drugs."

The proposal to decriminalize prostitution was the result of a 1 1/2-year study by a 28-member task force drawn from city agencies, law enforcement, prostitute advocacy organizations and neighborhood groups.

All six neighborhood groups associated with the project dropped out in January 1995, complaining that the project had been unfairly co-opted by prostitutes and their supporters.

If implemented, the proposal would make San Francisco the only major city in the country to officially decriminalize the sex trade.

The 50-page report calls for the abolition of all laws pertaining to prostitution; directing police to vigorously pursue crimes committed against prostitutes; boosting funding for shelters and social programs for prostitutes; and transferring the licensing of massage parlors from the police to other city agencies.

First requested by former supervisor and current District Attorney Terence Hallinan in 1993, the report also drew a decidedly tepid reaction from most city government representatives, including Mayor Willie Brown.

When asked about the report yesterday, Brown said, "I don't want San Francisco known as the prostitution capital of the world. I do believe we need to try and find some way to keep folks from doing it, but the answer isn't to stop enforcing the laws."

Representatives of the neighborhood groups that dropped out of the task force were livid at the recommendations.

"(The prostitute advocates) are lying through their teeth," said Phil Faight, a hair salon owner and a former task force member who lives in the Theater district. "The (six) neighborhood advocates quit when it became apparent that (the other members) didn't intend to discuss our problems and only wanted to sanction decriminalization. I'm amazed at how San Francisco plans to change a law that has jurisdiction throughout the state. If they try to implement anything, we'll notify the California attorney general. I'm sure he'll be very in

Task force member Margot St. James, a former prostitute, current supervisorial candidate and founder of the prostitute advocacy group COYOTE, said the real significance of the report is its broad- based community support.

"It represents a consensus among city agencies, the lesbian and gay communities and civil rights advocates that prostitution should be decriminalized," said St. James. "The idea of municipalities dealing with social problems (like prostitution) with the police is an absolute bust."

Until now, said St. James, the most comprehensive task force report on prostitution was one commissioned by former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in the mid-1980s.

"But that had only one prostitute advocate on the task force," said St. James. "It was like having a convention on racism with no people of color participating. This study is much more representative."

Grace Suarez, a San Francisco public defender and member of the task force, said the study's findings are "laudable," but she expressed reservations about effectively implementing the recommendations.

"The reforms covered are about 2,000 years overdue, but it would be difficult from a practical standpoint to decriminalize something that is a statute on the books," said Suarez.

"That way they could be diverted to programs such as drug rehabilitation, job training and psychological evaluation," said Walkup. "Many of these women are out of their minds on crack or suffering from post-traumatic stress, and they can't make rational decisions. We acknowledge that they are victims and need our help, but decriminalization isn't the way to go."

This isn't the first time that the decriminalization of prostitution has cropped up in the arena of public debate.

In the mid-1970s, liberal District Attorney Joseph Freitas Jr. announced his intention to "go easy" on vice cases, especially those involving sex workers. Confronted with a dubious public, a resistant police force and the gritty reality of the streets, he made little headway.